Smoke and Mirrors
by SherlockianGirl
Summary: Jane's presence in Asgard plagues Loki with a nightmare he never wanted to remember. She seems too familiar, and in a moment of madness he vows to prove a connection that could threaten a tragedy greater than the one he tries to forget. Lokane.
1. Look to the Stars

**A/N: **This story was inspired by and written for the following Lokane prompt: "Jane as a reincarnated former lover of Loki's. Either Angrboda or Sigyn. Some time after The Avengers (A Dark World AU?) Loki figures this out but can't bring himself to believe it's true. At the same time, he can't stay away from Jane either. Jane fells there's something familiar about Loki but for all the evil he's done, she doesn't want to explore her feelings for him..."

I hope I do it justice and that you enjoy!

* * *

_He was going to watch her burn, and there would be no pulling back._

_They had gotten too close to the chaotic abyss of Muspelheim, their final unexplored realm now yawning before them like a rolling sky set aflame. It had always been a risk, but he had miscalculated the landing on the fragments of an ancient Bifrost that still hovered over this forgotten end of the universe. Their momentum had been too great, sending them tumbling over the jagged edge toward the swirling chasm. His arm jerked from its socket as his wrist caught between jutting shards of the broken bridge, but held fast._

_Biting back the pain, a red glare filled his vision and seared the back of his mind. Loki tore his gaze away from the raging firestorm around them to focus on her, memorizing every inch of the face before him. He felt her hands tighten around the armor of his other forearm and he responded in kind, pressing long thin fingers into her elbow until his grip ached. From the corner of his eye he could see a flaming tendril stretch up from the whirling chaos and wind itself around her ankle. He felt his stomach plummet at the realization that it would never let her go._

_"Forgive me," he rasped, eyes never leaving hers._

_"How many times have I heard that before?"_

_"This is hardly the time for jests, Sig," he said mirthlessly. "But then...you never were much for timing."_

_"If you're referring to the incident in Vanaheim, that was your own fault."_

_"Really?" The smirk came despite himself. "I seem to remember you—"_

_The fiery fingers gave a sharp pull on her leg, and Loki gritted his teeth as he felt her slip farther down his arm._

_Her eyes widened, tears glistening along the edges. "Yes, remember me."_

_"Not like this," Loki's voice was strained, emotion rising hot in his throat and threatening to burn away the last shreds of his voice. "Not in this damned place."_

_"I thought the stars were worth the risk." Her face fell as she watched his fingers begin to work against their trappings . "Stop it, Loki!"_

_"As if I would let you go alone."_

_"Don't be a fool!"_

_"I am a fool!" he screamed in a hoarse voice as he struggled to work his limp hand free. Though each pull shot a knifing pain to his shoulder, he continued, but still the Bifrost would not yield his wrist. A tingling numbness began to creep down his arm, and a wave of panic crashed over his chest before freezing in the pit of his stomach. His eyes shot open and he dropped his chin to stare at her, open-mouthed._

_"Release me."_

_She shook her head, then winced as another fiery tendril snapped around her._

_"Release me!" he cried, writhing to free himself._

_"No!" Her voice rang with a finality that he knew all too well, and his body slumped, exhausted._

_He shifted to watch the storm rage beneath them, eyes unfocused. When at last he summoned his voice, it cracked nearly in two. "You will come back to me?"_

_A smile trembled across her lips. "Never stop looking, Lo."_

_"Sigyn-"_

_The claws of Muspelheim gave a final, violent jerk and ripped her from his grasp into the howling void as the words fell dead upon his lips._

* * *

Loki blinked as the light burned black patterns across his vision. Night had fallen and still he remained on the throne, watching the golden glow of Asgard's second moon spill slowly across the palace floor. As his thoughts slowly melted away into darkness, the flickering torch crackled on in the deep silence, its hue glimmering red. His hand shot forward, wrist twisting in a sharp motion as the flames extinguished, leaving behind a frozen swirl of ice in its place. He needed neither warmth nor light.

The metal of Gungnir rested coolly against his palm, and Loki felt a shivering thrill in holding the Allfather's great weapon in his grasp once more. Asgard was at his command and mercy, though the realm had not yet discerned his greatest illusion: that of Odin himself. Wearing the mask of the Allfather had proven necessary after his near and supposed death at the hands of the dark elves, for had his survival been known, they would have thrown him back to the shimmering dungeons without a hope of another escape. He knew his actions on Svartalfheim would hardly have merited a change in his interminable sentence, at least in the mind of Odin. He absently tapped a thumb against the golden spear. It had been for this purpose that he had forged his demise: if he could not gain the throne as himself, he would do so as another. There was no one left to hold him back now.

A flame danced in his peripheral and his gaze fell on another torch seconds before he guttered it in a spray of icy sparks. He suppressed his brief wonder at the cresset he could not remember lighting, before falling back into his own dark musings.

He had kept her memory hidden for too long, a bitter blade embedded in the soft oblivion of forgetfulness. It would throb at times in the wake of familiar place or action, but he was always quick to banish any thought before the pain could gut him anew. It was always fire that brought her back, and he found himself retreating further into the numbing cold spaces to never feel again that which he had lost in Muspelheim so long ago.

He rose stiffly from the throne and descended the steps slowly, dazed and consumed in thought. Why the nightmare had returned to him so vividly he could not tell, but something had dragged it from the tangled depths against his will to the forefront of his mind. He felt his strides lengthen over the cold, polished floor of the great hall, echoes darting in and out of the solemn statues still holding vigil in the night. He tried to drum the memory back to oblivion with the quickening cadence of his steps, down, down—

Fire sprang up, unbidden, in an iron cresset to his right. Loki faltered only a moment before reaching out to douse it with an icy blast from his fingertips. The unexpected light had startled him and left him shaken. He felt on the verge of a dream, clawing his way through a choking madness to stay afloat in a skiff of his own making, the only haven left for him when the sun fell and darkness reigned silent over the dead halls. He found himself fleeing the throne room with only a glance at the flame still burning within its encasement of ice. A few steps into an adjoining corridor and Loki laughed at himself, shaking his head in wonder at his misplaced anxiety. Distracted, he had let his imagination run wild, and it was only natural that it had fallen upon the only moving force in the room. Still, sleep might not find him easily that night, and he did not wish to lose control of consciousness to the growing unease that still curled icily in his belly.

His pace slowed as he rocked Odin's spear back and forth restlessly in his hand. Moments passed before resolution finally snapped to and he summoned the thin veil of magic that wrapped him in the visage of the Allfather. He smiled, relishing the freedom that came with deception, the actions that demanded no question, only loyalty. Every bow and supplication that the Asgardians had bestowed upon their king had served to gild his pride and lift his spirits, a remedy he would heartily take now over the gloom of his own counsel. It would distract his thoughts tonight, if nothing else.

Finding such citizens in the dead of night might be a challenge, as most respectable folk had taken to bed hours ago. He smirked to himself. He was not respectable folk. Still, he had to always be wary of his guise as the Allfather and remember not to do anything untoward, lest his subjects begin to suspect even the merest hint of a farce. He had little to worry from the palace's main inhabitants: Thor and his warriors were often away, keeping order in far off realms, even unto to the furthest reaches of the worlds where he had sent them himself. Without their raucous banquets and quests for counsel to distract him as the Allfather, Loki had found more time to seek new alliances and weave a tangled web about his throne should anyone pluck a thread too close to the truth. He would have welcomed the Asgardians' presence now, if only to enjoy amusement at their obeisance for the briefest of moments. His glance flitted about the long halls as he rounded another corner. The other wings of the palace remained just as empty, as Frigga was gone and Odin was—he shook his head with the ghost of a smile. It had been too easy.

The glow of pale light down the corridor caught his eye and he found his footsteps carrying him toward the open air of a moon-bathed balcony. Pausing upon the threshold, he looked out upon the night sky and watched listlessly as the heavens whirled above him in rolling hues of blue and green. He had watched the stars thousands of times, noted their galaxies, and tracked their movements until he could predict their fixtures with his eyes closed. They bored him now, too unchanging to ever be of much interest anymore. His chaotic nature chafed at their constancy, and for a brief moment he longed to raise Gungnir and strike out one of the great orbs of light, if only to change space by one star.

"Oh!"

Loki's eyes widened, and he dropped his gaze from the clouds to cast about for the source of the soft voice. Then he saw her, hand pressed lightly against her lips in a frozen reaction of surprise.

"Od-I mean, Allfather…" she corrected herself nervously, ducking her head to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I didn't know—"

"Jane," Loki drew her name out, his lips widening in a thin, mirthless smile behind his illusion. "Did I not order you back to Midgard?" His own thoughts sharpened and heated in anger at having yet another reminder of another's happiness thrust so suddenly before him.

"I went back, but-"

"I believe we had discussed this before. You don't belong in Asgard." Loki felt the fury building in his throat as he fought to keep his imitation of Odin's voice in check.

Jane's jaw shifted as she bit her lip, and Loki paused, momentarily entranced by the action. She raised her hands helplessly, and he noticed their subtle tremor. "I asked Thor to bring me back. I-I wanted to see more."

"Thor has been gone for days. How long have you been secreted here?"

Jane's gaze slipped to the ground. "Um, about that long, I guess."

Loki unconsciously tightened the threaded image of the Allfather about him. How had he been so absorbed in his plans not to notice the little Midgardian woman traipsing about his palace unattended?

"And he left you here?"

She was reaching behind her for the support of stone baluster. "He said he would be back soon, so that there was no harm as long as I stayed hidden for a few days."

"Then someone must be taking care of you? A servant?"

"Well-"

He cut off her response with a wave of his hand, bored with the answer as soon as he had asked the question. "It doesn't matter."

"I'm sorry."

He considered her with a cursory glance. She hardly seemed the same woman who had slapped him as Loki all those months before. He stepped toward her with a tilt of his head, feeling triumph glow in his chest as she took another step backward. Let her grovel now.

"You defied me, Jane Foster. Why?"

She managed a weak smile, her posture slumping in resignation. "I wanted to see the stars."

Ah, yes. Thor had mentioned her being a little connoisseur of the skies, an "astrophysicist", he had called her. Such an unimaginative thing to study, he thought.

"Does Midgard not have stars of its own?" he retorted, annoyance nipping at the edge of his words.

She became more animated despite his icy tone. "Yes, but not like yours! This place has constellations we've never seen on Earth, patterns no astronomer could even imagine!" She gestured wildly, as if desperate to make him see. "What we could add to the study of physical cosmology if we could only study them. Distance, expansionism, redshift, not to mention how NASA would…" she trailed off with a sigh and a shrug. "It's just...I've never been so close to them before."

"Your world must be small, indeed."

Her brow furrowed at his snipe. "Yeah, I guess it is. But yours if bigger, which is why Thor let me stay a little longer."

"Let you stay? What a petulant little guest you are," Loki snapped, closing the distance between them in two strides. "He should never have brought you here in the first place."

"He was trying to save me, to save all of us! To-" Jane's voice had hardened, but caution still held her back.

"Just how were you infected with the Aether?"

She shook her head, bewildered. "I-I found it while looking for-"

"Thor." Loki's voice took on a slithering tone. "You went searching for him and found chaos, then brought it here!"

"I did not mean-"

But his fury was unraveling like a whip. "Asgard burned and lay in ruins from the fires of an ancient enemy, and for what? How many perished because of your thirst for him, for knowledge? Do not forget that Frigga died protecting _you_, " he spat the last word out, as if Jane herself were a bitter taste in his mouth.

Tears sprang to her eyes and Loki suddenly came to, as if waking from the haze of a dream. This was not like the Allfather at all. He swallowed the remaining fury that still burned his lips, cursing his momentary loss of temper. Forcing a benevolent smile upon his lips, he feigned a ragged sigh. "My grief has quite blinded me. You must forgive me."

"Sure, after I find a way to forgive myself."

Loki bit his tongue, wanting to swallow the sentimental lie even as it left his mouth. "The fault lies with them, Jane. They brandished the sword."

She looked away, her head bobbing briefly in half-hearted assent.

He tried to change the subject. "Your actions have puzzled me, that is all."

The shadow of guilt never quite left her bright brown eyes. "Have you ever wanted—" she faltered, then found the right words. "Have you ever felt this need to explore the unknown?"

He had been asked that question before by another. Something pricked at the back of his mind, but Loki quickly forced it down. "Curiosity has its limits. I have found that they are not always worth testing."

Jane wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "You've never wondered?" she asked, her voice growing stronger.

"Wondered what?"

"About all this." She spread her arms, palms up toward the swirling dome above her. "Space, planets, your nine realms! What they're made of, how they were created, how they all interact in this limitless universe!" She dropped her arms with an exasperated sigh. "Doesn't it fascinate you?"

Loki cast a languid look over the clouds behind her, then shrugged. "Not anymore."

"Why not?"

Her persistent questions irked him, echoing like a chorus of chiming voices in his ear. She would have been less inquisitive if he had taken his true form instead of Odin's familiar, doddering frame. How he longed to see true fear silence her cloying sentiments about science and knowledge.

"Because I have seen all that I wish to see," he answered with flat finality.

"Would you blame a human for trying to do the same?"

"You should have known your actions carried consequences."

Jane scoffed. "What, that a race of monsters had hidden an unbreakable force on the other end of an infractioned wormhole just waiting to take over my body when I got too close to it? That seems a crazy price to pay for poking around an empty warehouse."

A reddening hue in the clouds above her snagged Loki's attention and held it as his voice slipped absently from his lips. "Then perhaps you should not have looked at all."

"Maybe I thought the stars were worth the risk!"

His heart stopped cold at the familiar words. He sensed Jane brush past him, but took no further notice of her, his vision filled with the scarlet storm now erupting across the night sky.


	2. An Atlas of the Worlds

The nightmares had become unbearable.

Every night the galaxies were consumed in fire, and he watched frozen as countless worlds crumbled into the void. The flames stretched out to twine about his armor like searing serpents until the molten metal branded his skin in liquid silver. His voice could find no echo, though his throat bled raw with each silent scream that was ripped from him. Then the burning clouds would close in until the fumes strangled him, and for the fourth night in a row he awoke gasping for air in the dead of night.

_How Sigyn must have burned. How she thirsted, and you let her burn._

The thought speared Loki and he collapsed forward with a moan, eyes squeezed shut against the tangle of sheets beneath him. The words ricocheted about his mind in a brazen cacophony until he clawed at his temples in an effort to silence it all. Sweat rolled hot across his skin and his breath came in short, ragged gulps as he fought to dispel the nightmare's rolling fog. But peace would not come, even as the room grew more familiar around him, and he stared forward with the eyes of a dead man, silent and sightless. He felt unhinged, unmade, and desperately far from a lucid shore. What knowledge was worth all this?

Anger suddenly roiled within him and Loki swore at her in his renewed grief, his voice finally returning as his tongue lashed out in hideous oaths that rang about the chamber. After all he had done, she had left him with this. His wandering grasp fell upon a nearby water carafe and he hurled it at the wall, the glass shattering and embedding fragments deep within the embroidered tapestry. When the last of the poisonous words had finally spilled from his mouth, he slid to the floor and leaned back against the bed, exhausted. Shaking fingers reached up to push away the hair plastered across his forehead as he threw a listless glance about the room that was still lit by two sputtering torches. How long he remained motionless, he did not know. He finally rose stiffly, half in a haze to stumble across to the golden water basin in the adjacent washroom. The cool splash of water steamed against his burning skin and he sighed as the heat evaporated along with the last remnants of the dream. Blinking, he felt reason return in slow waves until he could breathe easier as the madness retreated like the tide, though likewise, it was bound to return. Fear prickled at the back of his mind as it searched for any distraction to keep the darkness at bay, falling instantly upon his latest attempt at such a harmless diversion.

He immediately recoiled at the thought of Jane Foster. He had had no desire to see her again after their last meeting, for she vexed him, and was full of foolish hopes and graced with an impertinent manner that gnawed at his patience. His lips twitched in a rueful smile at the memory of the stinging slap she had once laid across his cheek. Had Thor not been present he would have answered her with much more than just the tilt of his head and a sly gibe. What Thor saw in her was a mystery to him, though Loki suspected it was the scientist's childish enthusiasm and occasional pluck that held his brother enthralled. These traits only served to mildly amuse Loki, for he found most Midgardians woefully dull and Jane not far above her kind's lot. Humans were fools in a universe too big for them, and they thought themselves able to conquer the stars through the sheer will of dreams without the raw possession of power. Oh, but how they loved to chatter endlessly about those hopes in every detail they could muster. Surely his nightmares could not return while she talked in that ceaseless, frenetic way of hers. He half-wondered at this weak reasoning, and with an effort fought down the sour disdain at the thought of her unwitting usefulness. Another glance about the oppressive room and he felt the madness lurk along the edges of his consciousness, waiting to corner him like a wolf before it consumed him alone. A mind could be a weapon unto itself as much as to others; the notion deeply unsettled him even as it settled the question.

With weary resolve, Loki cast the Allfather's visage about him once more but paused, surprised at how much effort the simple magic had taken. He had barely slept in days, and he began to wonder how long he could effectively hold the illusion without it revealing the true form underneath it. Shaking his head, he quickly dismissed the thought and continued to thread the image around him. Again, it chafed him—he was growing tired of traveling about as Odin for the simple, frustrating reason that he could not go as himself_._ Restlessness began to needle him and imagining how he might finally reveal himself to the dismayed Asgardians was the only thought that buoyed his patience with any measure of enthusiasm.

Jane would merely be a step in that direction, and nothing more.

* * *

Striding down the barren corridors, it occurred to him that she might have retired much earlier, and he found himself hoping that that burning curiosity of hers might have robbed her of rest. It did not take him long to find her chambers, as they were undoubtedly the same as Thor's. He chuckled despite himself. Thor must have truly thought his mission short for him to leave his lady in such an open hiding place. Perhaps he even underestimated his father's disapproval of her presence, and hoped Odin would forgive her second trespassing. Regardless, Loki was delighted to find her awake and bent over a book beside a collection of parchments that she had scattered pell-mell over a great oaken table. She did not hear his entrance, but continued her studies, occasionally scribbling down notes and drawing careful lines in a notebook to her right.

"Jane Foster," Loki began, Odin's voice rolling easily off his tongue in perfect mimicry. "I must offer a humble-"

She dropped the volume she had been holding and it crashed to the floor with a dull thud. Loki ambled forward and bent to retrieve it, pausing as his hand found where the pages had been held open the longest.

"The death of stars," he read thoughtfully, eyes flicking up to hers as he slowly placed the book back into her hands.

"Uh, yeah," she muttered as she began frantically straightening the papers before her.

"I'm afraid that I find the event too common to be of much interest."

She lit up at his remark, and Loki fought back a triumphant smile. How easily she could be goaded to conversation!

"No, this is an anomaly," Jane blurted, stabbing a finger at the map before her. "A thousand stars that die at once, each feeding off the other in this, this…endless chain of stellar collapse." She ran a hand through her tousled brown hair. "It's incredible."

The grin broke free upon Loki's lips. "Then may I welcome you to the larger side of the universe."

Jane searched his face, as if trying to detect his scorn from the last time he had mentioned her small world. Finding none, she risked a shy smile that grew as she glanced back over her notes. The warmth of his tone was apparently enough to melt away any further reservations she might have had, and she suddenly burst forth in a whirl of excitement.

"Allfather, did you see the red giants—" she stopped at his confused expression and recalibrated. "Oh, um, not _real _giants. Back on Earth, there's a phase of a dying star called a red giant which happens when it's used up its store of hydrogen which is a gas that fuels its core." Her words gained momentum as her confidence grew. "Then gravity begins to collapse it in upon itself and the star glows red as the hydrogen atoms undergo continuous fusion into…"

Loki sank slowly into an armed chair and listened as she rattled off a list of terms and scenarios that meant little to him, his attention held by her tireless vigor. To one as exhausted as he, she seemed a leaping spark in contrast to his black moods, and he watched carefully as she shuffled through the documents she had no doubt procured from the observatory. How she had done so, he did not bother to ask. Her tone entranced him, but not because he was charmed by it; rather, because her voice held an inexplicable quality that soothed his nerves as she prattled on about nothing and everything at once. Jane could hardly have found a more agreeable audience than the Asgardian before her, all too willing to listen to anything apart from his own dark thoughts.

"…and that's why when the sky was so red the other night—" Her words stopped on the tip of her tongue. "What's wrong?"

Loki had visibly stiffened. "I was not aware you took much notice of that."

Jane laughed. "Why wouldn't I? The light kept me up for hours!"

"Dying stars." Loki dropped his voice in a flat tone. "_That_'_s_ what you think that was?"

"What else could it be?" Jane flipped through the celestial maps and carefully flattened one out, leaning in to rest her chin on the back of her hands. Her brown eyes flitted over the ink-scrawled creases as she gingerly traced an index finger over the paths of galaxies and the realms that they claimed. "Where's Earth?"

Loki tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair. "Let me see."

Jane held up the thick sheaf and tilted it toward him. Loki leaned forward and merely glanced over it before falling back against the cushions. "Those are not Midgard maps."

"But shouldn't Midgard," she stumbled slightly over the strange word, then warmed to it, "Shouldn't Midgard be on all of these?"

Loki chuckled as he rose and walked toward the table. "Although your realm is at the center of the World Tree, it is by no means the only one."

"Thor told me about that!"

"About what?"

"The World Tree. He called it…" Jane trailed off for a moment, then shook her head sheepishly. "Well, I remembered it then."

"Yggdrasil."

"That was it."

Loki leaned two fists upon the table as he absently perused its contents. "And was that all he told you?"

She shrugged, suddenly fiddling with the worn pages of her open notebook. "Actually, I can't really remember. He started talking about the nine realms and where they came from, but I think I fell asleep."

Loki quirked a brow. "The subject bored you."

Jane's eyes widened as her face fell. "Oh, no, of course not! I mean, I was tired, that's all. Perhaps, you could tell me…again? You must have been to them all a million times."

A strange smile crossed Loki's face. "Yes, I have."

"Great. So…" Jane glanced back down at her charts, then fell into silence as they slowly claimed her attention once more. She seemed to forget him completely, but it was not long, however, before she frowned. "I still can't see this World Tree. I can't place anything, or get any directional bearing! Don't you have a map of everything?"

Loki stared at her, unease beginning to pool in his stomach as he was struck by a trace of familiarity. He began to back away, though he stopped short at her wounded expression.

"I'm sorry, that didn't come out right," Jane said apologetically. "I meant a map of the realms. I was wondering, if perhaps—"

"Yes, we have several." His mouth answered her question before his mind could even register the action.

"Are they in the observatory?" The hope in her voice was unmistakable.

Loki's surprise at his automatic response gave way to veiled annoyance. He had come only for the amusement of conversation, not to be the pageboy to the whims of a human. Still, the alternative to talkative company was far worse. He did not crave silence just yet.

He checked the strain in his voice. "Shall I show you?"

"You sure you wouldn't mind?"

The walk was a relatively short one. The residential halls were parallel to those of high academia, with the star chambers the chief fixture among them all. Loki had once wondered why Odin had built them when the Gatekeeper who watched from the edge of the Bifrost could describe every view of the universe. It was only later that he realized how the skies stirred great passions in some, infecting its students with a thirst for knowledge that could not be slaked by mere description. The skies demanded to be seen, and to be seen firsthand, and its limitless reaches provided enough questions for even the most ambitious Asgardians to pursue. And so for thousands of years the galaxies had been watched, studied, and recorded with the highest of detail until the shelves and vaults of the observatory became a vast library that held within its bosom the very history of the worlds.

Loki could not remember the last time he had been in this room, and found himself absorbing it all as if for the first time. The marble chamber was wide in berth, its ceiling rising high to a glassy dome that opened up to the bright night sky. The walls were flanked by great gilded shelves of thick tomes that stretched to the very ceiling as a massive desk cut the width of the room like a banquet table. Upon its surface were scattered volumes and diagrams from a previous study, Jane's, Loki quickly realized. Two great scroll cabinets stood at the far end of the room beside an open arch that lead to the vast observatory itself. Loki remembered the musty scent of parchment as soon as he stepped across the threshold, and he glanced up instinctively at the clear dome, his vision filled with the cold light of Asgard's closest moon. They would need no torch light in here.

Jane was already marching toward the map vaults when he reached for her shoulder and drew her back. "Please sit." He indicated a chair and she obeyed, her face etched with questions. His fingers ran delicately over the well-worn edges as he walked beside table before coming to a halt at the far end. His hand slipped from sight as he flipped a latch, and watched as the table slid apart in one quick, graceful motion. Jane's reaction was not as fluid, and he smirked at her muttered oath of surprise as she jumped back. From the center of it all rose two great rolls of ancient paper bound together in scarlet ribbon.

"Untie it," Loki ordered quietly, and Jane was only too eager to comply.

The map immediately spilled outward, tumbling over the smooth surface in either direction until it had stretched the full length of the long table. Jane's hand flew to her mouth as she watched it unfold, her eyes betraying her excitement as she glanced over at him in muted wonder.

"Your master atlas," Loki said slowly as he returned to stand at her side.

Then Jane was moving in a flurry of conversation and paper. One moment she was leaning in to study it all in greater detail, the next found her skittering further down to follow the whirling galaxies to their final, farthest ink strokes. "Midgard!" Jane finally exclaimed, running delicate fingers over the etched realm, ancient but still bold against the parchment. "And Asgard! Oh wow, are we really that far away? How many light years have I traveled here?"

"I believe I heard it to be a hundred thousand, as the Asgardian raven flies."

Jane gaped at him before returning her attention to the scrolls. "This detail is amazing! Every star must be on this map—" She stopped short and glanced up at him with a flashing grin. "The red giants! What direction did that balcony face, the one we were on the other night?"

Anxiety soured Loki's stomach. "South," he managed finally.

"South…south…" Jane mused, finding her place again on the chart. "The closest star in that quadrant had to have been at least 200,000 light years from Asgard when I first saw it. The distance is roughly equivalent to the size of Earth's irregular galaxies, so south of Asgard would be—" Her brow furrowed as her tongue stumbled over the word. "What's…Múspellsheimr?"

Loki swallowed, and with a trembling hand he pulled out the nearest chair and lowered himself into it before leaning his forearms on the table before him. "Muspelheim is one of the Nine Realms, made of consuming fire and turmoil that forged the beginning and end of the universe."

Jane stared at him. "You mean those red clouds the other night, those dying stars, are an _entire realm_?"

"If chaos can be said to have limits, yes."

"What livesthere?"

"Only that which goes to die there."

Jane gave him a quizzical look. "So it doesn't have any viable planets? Is life sustainable anywhere? I mean, it looks very similar to this galaxy that—"

"No," Loki shot back, then immediately checked himself. "No, not that has been discovered."

Jane had turned to study the fiery symbol branded into the ancient atlas. "If the Bifrost lets you visit any world, like Thor said, is there a way…"

Loki felt it hit him in full force, breaking the levees his mind had worked so hard to maintain the past few hours. Unsteadiness trickled cold through his veins and his throat rumbled in an unnatural chuckle. "And why would you want to do that?"

"Surely there's a way to get closer to it."

"Certainly!" Loki laughed through Odin's voice. "So is that it? You wish to touch a star as it dies?"

Jane blinked, her mouth dropping slightly open. "If it were—"

"Oh yes, it's possible. I've done it myself, or rather, I helped another do so."

"What happened?"

"What happens when fire meets flesh, Jane?"

The stretch of silence felt interminable. Jane's gaze dropped to her lap as she rubbed her fingers together restlessly, and Loki watched her from behind his dimming illusion. Exhaustion swept over him as it battled his frayed nerves and he gritted his teeth as he strained to concentrate the last of his energies on protecting his cover. He calmed as he secured it once more, slumping back with his head tilted to the ceiling,

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Jane's murmured, but her voice sounded clear across the empty space between them.

"You ask too many questions."

"Yeah, I can get pretty carried away," she said with a slight grimace. "I'm sorry, my timing's not always the best. And…thanks for helping me. I know I'm not even supposed to be here."

"No, you're not." Loki opened his eyes and they glinted in a shard of moonlight. "But you'll do as company for now. An old man grows weary of the same faces, you know."

Jane smiled but said nothing, her eyes roaming over the high mountains of books that corralled them in. She tried to stifle a yawn, but Loki could see that the lateness of the hour had finally taken its toll.

"Perhaps you should return to your chambers."

Jane rubbed her bleary eyes before dropping her hand back to rest upon the map. "Uh, maybe in a bit. I just wanted to—what's this?" Her fingers traced a lump beneath the sheaves and she carefully reached beneath them, pulling out a battered book bound in leather. "This wasn't here before."

Loki managed a smirk. "There is your history of the Nine Realms. No more questions."

But Jane was already flipping through the thin pages and only moments passed before she was absorbed in their contents. Scrambling about the research before her, she located her small notebook and began scribbling notes faster than he cared to follow. Loki sighed as he felt the final vestiges of fear slip away. There was something soothing about her presence, though her inquisitive nature had not entirely ceased to annoy his more solitary sensibilities. It had not been difficult to be civil to her, though his disguise gave him little freedom to act otherwise. The night's desperation and his long lack of sleep had robbed Loki of his sharper nature as the mask he wove about him every day weighed heavier upon his shoulders. He had not been himself, and he began to wonder just how much of his own identity remained. Odin, even in mimicry, would always hold him back.

Breaking from his reverie, Loki was surprised to find that Jane was asleep, her head resting against her right forearm that still held the book open before her. He tilted his head up to watch as the last sliver of moon slowly sunk from view, leaving the chamber entombed in an oppressive dark. Loki passed an hour in thoughtful silence before he finally gave in to the weariness that had gradually been pressing upon his eyelids. He stumbled to his feet and made it only as far as a soft armchair before he collapsed into it. The oblivion of an untroubled sleep immediately overtook him, and in the nothing that filled his mind he stretched out in contentment.

He did not wake when his illusion of Odin sputtered out in the darkness.


	3. To See and Observe

_"For you, my lady."_

_She started, staring down at the leather-bound notebook he had placed in her lap._

_"I had thought that for all the time you spend in here that you might require a place to collect your notes."_

_She looked him over suspiciously as she pushed a dark strand of hair from her eyes. "I don't believe we've met before."_

_"My apologies. I am Lo-"_

_"Yes, I know ," she interrupted, lips pursing. "Why you've been watching me, however, is something that I do not know."_

_"I like to observe my surroundings in this…" he smirked, gesturing to indicate the entirety of the room. "…Observatory."_

_"Ah, he has wit. How charming," she replied flatly, turning the book over in her hands. "And just what have you seen, Loki?"_

_"A woman with an insatiable appetite for the stars," he said, bending closer. "I must say, you seem quite the connoisseur of the stellar and realm charts."_

_"I am. Do you study them yourself?"_

_"Vigorously."_

_"Really?" She fixed him with a steady gaze. "I don't think I've seen you in here once."_

_He feigned indignation. "I can go unseen if I wish. It gives me access to the better materials before anyone else."_

_"Is that why I can never find the Atlas of the Norns?"_

_"I'm afraid that one is a personal favorite of mine. I may have stolen it a time or two."_

_"I don't believe that."_

_Loki smirked as he pressed his fingertips together and slowly pulled them apart, his eyes never leaving her face. In a wink of light, a large volume materialized before her, and his hands caught the tome as it fell toward the floor. He held it out to her. "Is this it?"_

_The woman stared at him as she took the volume and inspected the gold lettering along the spine. "How long have you had this?"_

_"Since the last time you returned it to the shelf."_

_Her brow furrowed. "That was two months ago."_

_"That long, then."_

_Placing the book carefully on the table, she rounded on him, irritation mildly coloring her tone. "Tell me, do you always steal a lady's favorite thing in order to gain her attention, for-"_

_Loki lifted his hands in defense, his face the picture of innocence. "I'm afraid I was studying the atlas myself, and only just discovered your preference for it. I now return it to your care."_

_Her expression softened slightly, though her voice still clipped out the words, "Thank you."_

_Loki reached for a chair, turned it about, and straddled it to face her, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Tell me, as I've always been curious to find another who shares my view. What do you consider to be the limitations of the Bifrost's scope? Could a portal be opened from a side dimension to lead to another realm?"_

_Her eyes widened. "How do you know that?"_

_He canted his head. "I've always made finding new passages between realms a hobby of mine."_

_"You did all of this to gain my opinion for your hobby?"_

_"The opinion of professional, yes."_

_"I won't deny that I am that entirely," she replied with mock stiffness, which failed to hide the ghost of a smile. "And what recompense do I get as a consultant?"_

_Loki nodded toward the notebook in her lap. "An atlas of the worlds."_

_"The pages are blank."_

_"Because you have not filled them in yet," Loki replied evenly, his sharp gaze watching her intently. "I hope you do not mind that I took the liberty of writing your name in it."_

_She scoffed. "Don't be a fool. Why would I wish to create a new set of maps, when I have plenty here?"_

_"Your curiosity burns, Sigyn," he whispered, daring to lean closer to her ear. "How would you like to see the stars as you've never dreamed of seeing them?"_

* * *

Jane awoke with a start. The dream fled her memory the moment the sunlight struck her bleary eyes as she tried to adjust to its sudden brilliance. Her neck ached at her having slept bent over the table, head resting on her crossed arms. She worked the muscles loose, craning her neck from side to side and straightening her back until in creaked loudly in the silence. Letting out a satisfied sigh, she noticed the object she had been sleeping on: a leather-bound book still opened to the sketched diagrams of one of the realms. She did not recognize the handwriting that scrawled the pages with an elegant hand, but the contents seemed a curious mixture of numerical readings and terms in a foreign tongue. She would have to ask Odin to translate them for her. She froze. _Odin!_ Had she fallen asleep while he had been talking to her, perhaps even explaining the World Tree to her yet again? She cursed herself for never being able to stay awake when an Asgardian told her anything of his heritage. She threw a panicked glance about the room, hoping in vain that he might have stayed long enough to let her apologize.

Her gaze fell instead upon a figure curled in an armchair some ten feet away. He was dressed in a green tunic with hints of black cloth crisscrossing in intricate patterns around his middle. She craned her head to glimpse his face, but he shielded it with an uplifted forearm as if to block out the unwanted intrusion of the morning light. Fear slipped a knife into her. Thor had told her to never go about the palace alone, as even the best of its subjects could be rogues in disguise. She had disobeyed him already more times than she cared to count, and yet here was proof of Thor's warning: a strange man lying within a few feet of her, who could at any time have…Jane shook her head with a smile. Villains didn't just fall asleep in plain sight of their victims.

Curiosity dragged her to her feet, though it was caution that put the smooth notebook in her hands as a half-measure of defense. Perhaps the man was a scholar who had, like her, fallen asleep amidst his studies. The thought buoyed her hope as she rounded the far golden settee to stand before him. As if in response to her closer presence, he shifted and dropped his arm from his face. Jane's stomach plummeted as she staggered back, clapping two hands over her mouth to choke back the scream that clawed her throat. _Him._

Fear, hatred, and anger roiled within her at the sight of his peaceful form. Even in death, he had returned to mock her yet again in the face of all the hopes he had ruined and the lives he had burned. _He_ had been the cause of her torturous wait for Thor's return, and New York…a slap across his cheek did not even scratch the surface of what he deserved. She would find Odin, tell him his son was alive and had followed her into the observatory, and the Allfather would… Realization stung Jane like a firebrand, and the leather book flew from her hand before she even realized she had thrown it. It struck Loki across the bridge of his nose and his eyes flashed open as his boots scrabbled about for traction on the slick, polished floor.

"_You snake!" _Jane shrieked, her hand reaching behind her for another missile to launch at him. Loki's eyes widened and darted down at his clothing in wonder, as if seeing his form for the first time. His shock gave way to fury as his gaze narrowed upon the book she had lobbed at him. Lifting it gingerly from where it had been splayed across the floor, he hissed as another volume struck his shoulder, this one thick and hardbound.

"_You_ were Odin!" Jane bit out the words as she slowly backed away from his advancing steps. She laughed then, a hollow sound in the quiet of the room. "How silly of me to think he would actually help, that anyone would help, and it turns out it was you all along,_ you_ of all people!"

A predatory smile crept across Loki's lips, and Jane forgot herself as the rage choked out her senses. She strode forward, her fingers balled into a fist at her side as she poised to strike the insolent look from his face. Punching a god would do no good, she knew, but it might make her feel better. "It's always you! You ruin _everything_!" she cried as she raised her hand, but he caught her wrist, twisting her arm behind her back and pulling her flush against his body.

"I've missed our time together, Jane Foster," Loki purred down at her. "I'll admit that it was rather difficult with the disguise. What a pity that I've seemed to have dropped it somewhere."

"Where's Odin?" Jane gasped as his crushing grip forced the air from her lungs in shallow breaths.

"Asleep," Loki drew the word out between clenched teeth. "Now, as long as we're interrogating one another," here he raised his free hand and twisted the air until the three doors to the room slammed shut in accordance, "Where did you find that atlas?"

"I probably found it where all the other ones are!" Jane snorted.

His fingers clenched into a fist against her back as he held up the notebook she had thrown at him. "This one, Jane. Where did you find it?"

"You gave it to me." It didn't feel like a lie, since she was fairly certain that he had done just that by way of some magical placement or other. Books didn't just appear under maps by themselves.

"And why would I do such a thing?" His narrowed eyes grated over her.

"Just being nice, I guess," she replied before spitting in his face. His left hand released her as it flew to wipe at his eyes and she immediately stumbled away, breaking into a run as she cleared the seating area with a clumsy leap over a misplaced ottoman. She had only gone as far as the scroll cabinets when he tackled her to the ground with a furious snarl. The wind knocked out of her, she gasped for air as she felt his body press hers to the ground.

"Don't lie to me, Jane," he hissed in her ear. "I would never have given you that book. Why did you take it?"

Of all the things Loki could be upset about, Jane wondered that he had chosen to vent his rage against a single stupid notebook. "'There is your history of the Nine Realms,'" she quoted him. "'No more questions.'"

She felt his breath hitch deep within his chest. She could not see his face, but she imagined that the words had rung in his memory as soon as she had uttered them. He shifted to crouch above her, and Jane was struck at how familiar it felt to that day on Svartalfheim where he had shielded her from the blast of the shattering Aether. The question tumbled from her mouth before she could check it.

"Why did you save me back on that dark world?" she whispered against the cool floor, and watched as his forearm stiffened beside her. He didn't answer, and Jane listened to his breathing quicken above her for several long seconds. Then he suddenly released her, backing away from her prostrate form until he came to rest on his knees a few feet away. Jane pushed herself onto her back and froze at the look of utter disbelief on his face.

Impatience snagged at her words. "You didn't do it for Thor and you certainly didn't do it for me, so _why_ did—"

"You remind me of her," he breathed incredulously, his eyes flitting over Jane as if searching for the clue that would yield the depth of some great mystery to him.

She recoiled. "_Her?" _A memory pricked at the back of her mind until she realized it was the image of the dark-haired woman from her dream. Dreams weren't memories, Jane corrected herself, unless—she snatched at the notebook Loki had left on the floor between them and flipped to the front page. A name, scratched neatly in faded brown ink, was barely visible on the inside cover.

"Sig-" Jane faltered, trying to place the faint letters together. "Sigyn? Was that her name?"

A thrill seemed to shoot through Loki and a strange smile twisted his lips as he began to crawl toward her. "Yes."

"Who was she?" Jane managed, fear finally clenching her insides as she scrambled backward, only to feel the scroll cabinet press hard against her back. Trapped again.

"She was mine," he murmured, moving forward to press his chest against her bent knees.

Jane felt sickness sour her stomach. "And you think that I belong to _you?_" she retorted, her voice dripping with disgust.

"How interesting that my brother's lady should be most like my own," Loki mused, cocking his head to the side as he studied her. Jane felt his gaze slip over every inch of her body and she shuddered under his close examination. He smiled as he leaned closer to her. "I wonder how far the similarities go."

"Get off me!" Jane ordered, aiming a booted kick square into his abdomen.

"Mm, she did often say that, though in jest."

"I'm not…_jesting_!" Jane snarled, gritting her teeth as she struck a blow to his chest. "Get off, you monster!"

Loki flinched as if he had been struck across the face. "She never uttered _that_."

"So she never told you the truth?" Jane felt boldness surge in her anger, though part of her brain begged her to temper her words. But too many questions crowded her thoughts, and civility would not get her answers to any of them. "She just did what you told her to, was that it?"

His good humor was beginning to fade, slipping from his face like a sheet uncovering something much more dangerous underneath.

"That's what you want everyone to do, isn't it? New York, Earth, and now… Asgard? To follow you without question while you trick them into thinking you have their best interests at heart?"

His jaw clenched as his glittering gaze fixed upon hers. It was a warning she chose to ignore.

"I saw what you did on TV. Kinda hard to forget. You wanted to destroy the world I love as you threatened the people _I_ love, and now you're actually telling me that I remind you of someone that…that _you _loved?" Her voice rose in pitch as her teeth set on edge at the thought. "Whatever sick world you live in, you never had love to give."

He was closing in, all light having left his eyes. "Then what do monsters give, Jane?"

Cold fingers pressed hard into her scalp and she felt a jolt of pulsing force spider through her brain. Her vision went black as the answer died in her throat.

* * *

"Álfheim, the realm of the light elves, can be found near the crown of Yggdrasil, approximately one hundred and fifty thousand wing beats as the Asgardian raven flies from the heights of Hlidskjalf…"

Jane stirred at the pleasant words, and she felt the soft sheets slide against her skin, though the layers did nothing for the cold that permeated the room. She did not remember dreaming, or even sleeping, and yet she felt the soft mattress dip slightly beneath her weight as the pillows rustled when she tilted her head toward the familiar voice.

"The world itself is one of light, and is given to the orbit of three small suns that light the uppermost branches of the World Tree in its dark spaces. The realm is highly wooded along its rolling plains and hills, though no mountains exist to obstruct the horizon. The air of its nature is as sweet as a new spring breeze…"

Jane's eyes shot open and blinked her surroundings into focus. Loki sat some three feet away, Sigyn's leather book cradled in his hands as he read to her in that deceptively lilting voice of his. He seemed relaxed as he leaned back in his chair, his feet propped up on the solid oak nightstand beside her bed. His clothes had changed to those of his most recognizable armor that he had worn upon their fist meeting. She watched him read, entranced by how such an activity could render his volatile nature so calm and almost peaceful. Still, lines of tension lurked beneath the veins of his neck, as if his gentle voice was yet another strain he wished to hide.

"Fear," Jane murmured, and Loki paused in his reading. "Monsters give us fear."

He merely glanced up from the book before returning his attention to it. "And are you fearful, Jane?"

"I should be."

"Good answer." Loki licked his index finger and turned a page. "It's a healthy emotion that keeps our tongues in check."

Jane pushed herself to sit up on her elbows, though she winced as the blood throbbed painfully through her head. "You knocked me out…because I hurt your _feelings_?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Jane," Loki replied with grating nonchalance. "I had business to do as Odin without having to worry about you trying to tell every soul in the vicinity my secret."

"How _did_ you survive?" Jane asked, her tone betraying more loathing than curiosity.

"Which time?" He thumbed over another page. "The Bifrost or our little outing in Svartalfheim with dear Thor?"

"You were stabbed. I saw you die!"

Loki closed the book slowly and rested it on his stomach as he crossed his arms. "You didn't exactly stick around to be certain of the fact, now did you?"

Jane's brow furrowed as she felt a pang of confusion surge within her. She had never met a puzzle as infuriating as this one. "You had just risked your life for us! Why would you want everyone to think you were dead?"

A smirk played upon his lips. "And who would have believed me, I wonder, when I came back triumphant to Asgard? Back to the dungeons I would have gone, and all would have been for naught."

"You would have still saved us," Jane reminded him pointedly.

"Yes, but you see, that would not have been _pragmatic_." He let out a breathy chuckle as he shifted in his seat. "What would _I_ have gotten out of it, in the end?"

"A sense of accomplishment, of having done something good for someone else!"

Loki let out a barking laugh. "You think I would put forth all that effort for _feelings_? You humans are so sickeningly sentimental, as if everything needs a reason to be done!"

"Fine, avoid the question!" Jane shot back as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. "Why were you reading to me, or maybe that didn't need a reason either?"

A slow grin spread across Loki's face. "A woman with an insatiable appetite for the stars, whose curiosity consumes her every waking moment. How far would she go for the answers to the riddles in the sky?" He held up Sigyn's atlas. "Your world is contained in books and machines, Jane Foster. Isn't it time you saw things for what they really are?"

He rose from his chair and leaned down toward Jane, even as she shrunk back against the pillows. His breath was warm against her ear. "How hot does your curiosity burn?"


	4. Yggdrasil

Every stretch of peaceful slumber seemed shattered by another disturbing scene that sent her tossing against the pillows. Her nails clawed the sheets in some effort to escape her mind's eye before she finally stilled and the cycle slowly repeated itself. The last of the room's moonlight had been consumed by a rolling bank of low clouds, leaving the chamber under a dark pall without any hint of light to dispel it. Blindly, Loki listened to the agony of Jane's nightmare. Parting ways with Jane on the pretense of a strained goodnight, he had sent an illusion of himself from the chamber with a low bow while he watched unseen from the side of the heavy red curtains. Exhausted, she had quickly fallen asleep, now leaving Loki with a thousand threads to ponder following the wake of their latest encounter.

Sinking into a scrolled couch at the far side of the room, he silently cursed himself for allowing Sigyn's atlas to goad such a violent reaction from him. His brow furrowed as he recalled Jane's frantic excuse for having it—had he really given it to her? He pulled the notebook from his coat and placed it on his lap, letting his fingertips trace the intricate patterns that had been branded into the soft leather cover. There is your history of the Nine Realms. No more questions. He had uttered the words and conjured the book for Jane without the slightest intention of doing so, and his jaw clenched in renewed fury at such a thoughtless action. She had no right to use anything of Sigyn's, and yet he had more than given her permission.

"_Why_?" Loki growled, glaring through the dark in Jane's direction as if he expected her to respond. Perhaps he had given the answer himself when he had said she reminded him of— Loki immediately shifted the thought. It was absurd to even consider that a human could bear any resemblance to a goddess— he halted again, then grudgingly allowed it completion — much less to Sigyn. But Jane did. He felt a strange elation at the conclusion and froze, his mind scrambling to comprehend the unexpected emotion. He should feel angry that Jane had unwittingly unearthed his memories of a former beloved, but instead he felt unbidden relief wash over him as his question was laid to rest. But he would not let it rest. His quick mind took it up again, examining the answer from every angle to ask again: _Why?_

He stretched himself fully across the length of the couch and leaned his head back against the armrest to better stare idly at the ceiling. Similarities. There had to be similarities for the familiar chord to have been plucked in his memory. He felt a twinge of distaste at the thought of Jane and Sigyn occupying the same plane of comparison, but he reluctantly forced it down in favor of more analytic thought. That both women were fond of the stars was the most obvious trait they shared, their eagerness for knowledge bordering upon maddening passion. Loki allowed himself a small smile. How often he had fought to keep Sigyn from dragging them both headlong into danger in the name of discovery. Her zeal eventually proved contagious, however, as it usurped his once careful practicality and unleashed a reckless abandon he had never quite tempered since. Despite Sigyn's foolhardiness, her enthusiasm bore a more serious aspect, unlike Jane's grasping, childlike wonder of the world. He had flipped through Jane's bound journal of notes earlier as she slept off his magic, his eyes taking in the limitless strings of foreign symbols and numbers scribbled across the pages. Her calculations were often interrupted by detailed observations and fanciful predictions that had no true experience to support them. A folded sheaf had slipped free from the pages, and Loki recognized a crude image of Yggdrasil drawn in Thor's hand. He shook his head, chuckling to himself. Is this what Thor had been teaching her about their worlds? Lines and circles on paper: that was all Jane knew of the realms.

His thoughts wandered before falling upon a second parallel. By some unhappy chance, Jane had at times spoken with Sigyn's exact words, which left a curious uneasiness in the back of Loki's mind. She was not much like Sigyn in manner, however—Jane seemed less sure of herself at times, less eloquent even, though none the worse for words when she was provoked. She had pride and a stubborn surety about her that begged to be molded by a stronger hand. Loki conceded Jane her solid grasp of her beloved science, but he could not abide her complete ignorance of the worlds she claimed such a connection to. He longed to put her firmly in her place, to show her how tiny she was in her vast universe. To think Jane considered herself some sort of expert—his breath hitched. Had Sigyn not thought herself the same?

Loki gritted his teeth, considering. Through Jane, he had felt Sigyn for the first time in centuries, if only for the briefest of moments. The emotions he had dammed up for so long began to drip, then trickle as he felt his will begin to crack. He knew he would never see Sigyn again, and yet today he had felt her as clearly as if she were standing in the very room with him. A pang of anguish shot through Loki as he realized how he missed the woman he had met in the observatory so long ago. And now here was another, a human, so different and yet…he closed his eyes, his mind churning incessantly over it all. Curiosity finally broke through and began to gnaw at the edges of his mind until it grew ravenous, devouring his careful logic and leaving behind only a blind, voracious need to sense her again. He immediately checked himself. How close did he dare to tread before memories became nightmares, and the pain he had worked so diligently to conceal was ripped raw once more? Was a moment of illusion worth that? A sigh thrummed in his throat. How good it would feel to have her again, if only he could—

Loki's eyes shot open as the solution struck him and he grinned broadly in the dark. Jane Foster the astrophysicist, so wise in the ways of science and yet so woefully untried in her experience of it. Just how far did her likeness with Sigyn go?

Loki ran his tongue over his teeth. He would break her to find out.

* * *

"Do you _mind_?"

Loki's eyes flitted open. He squinted up in the brightness of the room as her face slowly came into focus above him. She was disheveled, her previous day's clothes now wrinkled as her mussed hair fell haphazardly about her shoulders. Loki's lips cracked into a slow smile as he shifted to stretch out his long limbs, now free from the stiff armor he had dissolved before sleep.

"Good morning, Jane," he sighed as he settled back onto his side and gazed languidly up at her. "You seem troubled."

"Really," she scoffed, planting her hands on her hips. "A murderous psychopath is sleeping in the same room as me and I'm supposed to be okay with that?"

Loki yawned. "I think it's a bit early to be insulting your host."

"Why are you in my room?"

"These are Thor's chambers, I believe."

Jane glared at him. "You can't even have the decency to give me a little privacy?"

"Privacy is a privilege. I have been hospitable in allowing you to stay as a guest." He pushed himself up to a sitting position and leaned forward, resting his arms across his thighs. "But I suppose that would not be a decent thing to do."

Jane stared at him. "You think that _means_ something to me? Letting me use a few maps and books doesn't make up for anything you've done!"

Loki's smile thinned. "So called atonement was never the plan."

"Then why take me to the observatory? Why show me anything?" Jane folded her arms across her chest as she shifted her stance warily. "And all your visits, this…this spying on me! If Thor were here-"

"But he's not."

"Don't tell me you're jealous."

Loki favored her with a dour look. "If I envied Thor anything of his, you would not be it."

"Oh, thank goodness. Now I can sleep at night."

Loki's gaze roamed over the rumpled sheets of her bed before flicking back to Jane's face. "That will be a relief for you after having such bad dreams."

"You were in here when-" She let her breath out in a sharp huff as her voice rose in pitch. "You watched me while I was _sleeping_?"

"More like listened, really," he said with a shrug, the sunlight catching the gold patterns of his tunic as he moved. "I wanted to ensure that my guest rested well."

Jane's brown eyes blazed. "You sick, twisted-"

He tsked. "Insults, Jane."

"And you deserve every one of them! Again, why were you in here?"

Loki rose slowly, the leather around his waist creaking with the movement. "What nightmares you must have had. Tell me."

"It's none of your business."

"Everything here is my business," Loki replied serenely. A grin flickered across his face as he slowly stepped forward. "As are you."

Jane backed away in time with his advances, her jaw setting tighter the closer he came. "Get out."

Another boot forward. "Words require so little, Jane." Another step, a little louder. "Tell me about your dreams."

Jane found herself backed against a bed post, the intricate carvings of the wood threatening to dig into her back if she pressed any closer. She held her ground as he slowly continued toward her.

"Come now, I'm curious what-"

"You're the monster in them!" Jane snarled, exasperated. "Ever since I came back to Asgard, I can only get sleep in the observatory, because you're in my nightmares everywhere else!"

"I had no idea I had such…an effect on you," he purred.

"You should have stayed dead."

Loki's mouth twitched as his boots scuffed to a halt. "Perhaps you should return to Midgard where you belong."

"Like I would leave all of this behind because of you. I have so much to learn, so much I haven't done and-"

"And if I stopped you?"

"You wouldn't." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I think something about all this interests you too. In your own sick way," she added, muttering.

"Oh?" Loki rocked back on his heels as he fought back a triumphant smile. This had been easier than he had anticipated. "Then I have a proposition for you, Jane."

For a moment, she seemed taken aback, then quickly recovered as suspicion clouded her face. "I don't do the whole deal with the devil thing, sorry."

"Not even to explore your…oh, how do you humans term it…'outer space'?"

Jane's mouth dropped slightly. "You honestly think you could bribe me?"

A flicker of jade light left a notebook in his hand, which he held out to Jane as he swiftly closed the distance between them. "This was left in the observatory."

Jane's fingers reached out and closed around the book's spine. She paused, her eyes flicking up to Loki's when his grip would not release it. "It's mine, now give it back," she said between clenched teeth.

He tilted his head, eyebrows rising slightly. "Just how much do you know about the forces of the universe?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "I've made it my life's work, so I think I'm probably pretty familiar with it all, probably even more than you might-"

"I'll wager you know very little."

Jane stared at him as he moved even closer to tower over her. She snorted, unaffected. "And I guess you're the resident expert, huh?"

"Well, yes," Loki replied, giving her a lofty glance. "You may know of the things you study, but you know precious little about them." He wrested the journal from Jane's grasp and flipped through the worn pages." These scribbles are quite impressive, I will allow you that."

Jane snatched the book back from him, indignant. "Those _scribbles_ are years of research that you'll never understand. Astronomical data charts, relative equations from anomaly depositions, stellar patterns-"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Please spare me the technicalities, Miss Foster, unless there is an equation that can give me a description of the nine realms."

"What do you want?"

Loki glanced innocently at the ceiling, then back down to her. "I wish to show a Midgardian scientist how little she truly knows of her world."

"I never said I knew everything."

"Mm, you seem to think so, as did Thor. Did he ever offer to show you the kingdoms of the World Tree or did he just draw little maps for you?"

"Wait, you're offering-"

"A journey through the realms, unless you would prefer to live in the observatory and imagine it for yourself, and inaccurately at that." He delighted in watching her eyes spark in an excitement that was skirted with reckless abandon, just like—he immediately shut out the thought.

When he focused on her again, Jane's face had hardened and the light had faded from her eyes. "No, I couldn't."

He leaned closer, her journal of research now the only barrier between them. "Ah, yes, the 'murderous psychopath' part, is that it?"

"A bit hard to ignore," she retorted, raising a hand to push back against his chest.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it when you woke me in the observatory, and not a soul would have known. Simplest end in the world."

"That's comforting, really," Jane replied demurely as she shifted to try and slip free from his imposing frame. "As tempting as-"

Loki suddenly pressed forward, pinning her against the carved bedpost with the length of his body. He lowered his head as his voice dropped into a lilting whisper. "Have you ever seen the night falls of Álfheim, flowing silver as the very starlight runs through them? Or the caves of Nidavellir, where galaxies swirl blue and red within the living rock? The universe breathes through Yggdrasil and touches every living thing under its branches. No shuttle of yours can find these secret corners of the sky, but I can."

Jane's face was inscrutable. Loki watched her hawkishly, searching for any change in her resolve. When she failed to respond, he felt impatience gnaw away the last of his affable mood. His jaw clenched as he exhaled slowly. "Well?"

Jane pushed him away roughly. He stood still, watching her curiously as she began to pace the room, her fingers tangling in her hair. "And what do you get out of all this?"

Loki smirked. "I need to stretch my legs a bit. Dungeons are rather confining and boring, you can imagine."

"You were locked up for a reason-a ton of reasons, actually—and you should still be there! But now that you're free, you want to go on…_vacation_?"

Loki's fingers bent at his sides then splayed out against his leg. "It's very simple, Jane. Do you wish to see the stars or not?"

She lifted her chin and looked him directly in the eye. "Yes, but not with you."

Loki's mouth hardened. Squaring his shoulders, he took a cross step toward her as his lips drew back in a feral snarl. His right hand shot forward and a flash of green fire blazed from his fingertips. The flames struck the notebook in Jane's hands, scorching the binding as she threw it down with a shriek. In a matter of seconds the pages had curled into ash as Jane watched in frozen horror, the emerald light dissipating with the last of the intact paper.

Loki flexed his fingers and straightened his tunic as his golden armor began to gleam into place around his body. He turned his attention to tightening a newly appeared gauntlet. "Your research may need replacement. Might I suggest a study abroad?"

"You bastard!" she screamed, her glare a few degrees short of murderous. Her mouth opened to say more, but no words came as fury choked her speech.

He cinched his belt. "Care to try me again, Miss Foster? The observatory will be next, and there is nothing there of value left to me."

Jane glowered at him, then finally managed to find her voice. "Why don't you just go exploring yourself and lock me up here?"

"A clever woman will find a way to tell my secret, regardless of a lock on a door. I don't believe I could trust you in that regard."

"Believe me, the feeling's more than mutual."

Loki pursed his lips and considered her for several moments. There was still defiance in her eyes, though considerably less than he had noted at the beginning of their conversation. He almost had her. He reached down to unfasten a holster inside his coat and walking slowly up to Jane, he gently placed the object in her hands. "Use it as you wish."

Jane stared down at it and allowed her fingers to run over the intricate patterns of the leather case. "A dagger can hurt you?"

Loki shifted his jaw and looked away. "Mine can. Feel better now?"

"You'd let me kill you."

"I'd let you try."

"You really want me to go, don't you?" Her voice sounded small in her genuine wonder, though a hard edge still existed to remind him that she had not forgotten her destroyed notes.

"Think of it as an experiment of sorts. I will not offer you this opportunity again."

Jane was silent for a long moment before she finally sighed. "So I guess we start at the portal at the end of the Bifrost, is that it?"

"I prefer Yggdrasil."

* * *

Jane studied it with a puzzled expression. "It's a tree."

"No, you're standing before-"

"An entire tree."

Loki sighed, adjusting the pack of supplies that hung across his back as he took the last few ascending boulders in stride. "Touch it and tell me that it feels like one."

Jane stepped closer to the wooded shape that jutted out from the rocky soil. It seemed like a reversed root, its branches stretching out in the form of wooden claws that grasped greedily at the sky. Her fingers brushed against the bark and she immediately sprang back, reeling from the sharp sting that had pulsed from the plant.

"It's defending itself," Loki's voice came from behind her.

"It felt like a jellyfish sting," Jane winced as she continued to stare at the offending tree. "Does it have cnidocytes?"

"Have _what_?"

"Stinging cells. I remember looking it up once. They're these parts of an organism that explode upon contact and send out a barb into the victim so that-"

Loki drew in a deep breath. "So that is why this hurts so much." He gave Jane a rough shove forward, quickly following behind her as they broke through the electric force field. Loki gritted his teeth against the shock as Jane cried out in surprise and pain. Then they were past it, falling through a blackness traced by streaks of bright blue as Loki reached out to roughly grasp Jane's wrist. They tumbled against each other as the tunnel curved suddenly to the right before plunging down in a gut-wrenching drop. The skeins of blue were joined by ones of iridescent purple and green that raced past their peripheral vision in a swath of blurred color. Their speed quickened as they fell downward before the earthy shaft began to level out. Loki squinted as the light glowed brighter around him, burning Jane's form ahead of him into the back of his mind.

"Close your eyes!" he cried out to her.

"Already done, thanks!" was the sharp reply. The words had barely left her mouth before they slammed into solid ground in a tangle of limbs. The searing light around them had vanished.

Jane gasped for air from where she had been thrown over Loki's side. "You couldn't have given me at least one of ten possible warnings before putting me through all that?"

Loki shrugged her off as he pulled himself to his knees. "The fun is in the unexpected."

"Well, the unexpected just scared the hell out of me."

"Then you may wish to skip that realm."

But Jane wasn't listening. Her eyes widened as they took in the cavern about them as it stretched endlessly up toward the heavens. "Where are we?"

Loki gave her a proud smirk. "Welcome to Yggdrasil, the World Tree that holds and sustains the Nine Worlds. You now stand inside its very heart."

"What did we just go through?"

"One of the many branches that crop up throughout the realms. More of a twig, really."

"Are these fibers?" She ran her hand over the thick ropes that glowed beneath her knees. Silver light sprang up and swirled beneath her touch as it outlined her trembling fingers. "Oh my God, this can't be real," she breathed as she struggled to her feet. Stumbling forward and sliding along the slick filaments, she made her way to the very center of the cavern where the sound of rushing water fell in deafening torrents. Above her rose the vast trunk of an ethereal tree, the veins of bright blue and violet light pulsing and racing upward and outward in living, changing patterns. No definite form held Yggdrasil except for a wisped, silver radiance that gleamed down in crystalline threads from an eternal height, outlining an immeasurable trunk that grew and shrank as if it were breathing. Loki took it all in as if for the first time, a thrill of delight rushing through him as he felt the tree shift and sway beneath him as it stretched outward toward the stars. He had come here countless times and still the place managed to amaze him. Another cry of wonder from Jane broke his reverie, and Loki joined her where she stood before two rushing rivers that flowed in opposite directions of one another.

"I don't believe this," Jane murmured as she tilted her head upward to watch the gleaming green waters tumble above her.

"You have never seen a river flow vertically?"

"Not up into the sky!" Jane shook her head. "Is there some lack of gravitational pull? I mean, how is one going straight up and the other-" She stopped, brow furrowing. "Wait, wait…this is familiar. This looks like the part of a plant that transports…um, nutrients up and down the stem! Oh, this was in biology, wasn't it? Why didn't I pay more attention in that class? It was called…hold on a second. Um, there was a chart we had to memorize and label...Oh, yeah! Xylem and…and phloem!"

Loki watched her frenzied thought process with interest, though her scientific terms meant little to him. "Yes, I suppose-"

Jane grabbed the gauntlet around his forearm and tugged in her excitement. "It's like we've shrunk to walk around inside a living plant! I mean, we are, obviously…" Her words dissolved into silence as her gaze continued to follow the leaping waters of the upflowing river.

Loki pried her fingers from his arm. "Well, that's enough of that. This is only one small stop along the route."

"But I need to make observational notes about all this and-" Her face fell as a frown wiped the smile from her lips. "I _would_ take notes if you hadn't burned my notebook to smithereens."

"That can be easily fixed," he muttered as he stretched forth his hand. A black leather book with thin ties appeared on the ground between them as a pen rolled out from beneath the soft front cover. "I brought a new one for the journey, if it can be of use to you."

She stared at the journal before tentatively picking up the unexpected gift. "This doesn't change anything, you know. I mean, about what you did earlier."

"Simple gratitude would suffice."

"Thank you," Jane replied, clipping each word.

"A pleasure. Now, we may as well begin with Álfheim."

"And where would that be?" Jane asked absently in between sketching rough observations in her new notebook.

"Near the top of Yggdrasil. I read that to you, do you not remember?"

"Mm-hmm." Jane scribbled on for a several seconds before stopping suddenly, her pen hovering above the paper. "Wait, do you mean we're going to climb an intergalactic tree?"

Loki laughed at her stunned expression. "No, but we will swim through one."

"You're kidding."

"Not in the least." He indicated the rushing river that coursed upward along the World Tree's silvered trunk, its waters darkening and disappearing at an unseen height. "Jump in."


	5. The Falls of Álfheim

**A/N: **Thank you all for the kind reviews-I'm so glad that you're enjoying the story!

Please note that I lay no claim to a knowledge of physics and that the science discussed in this chapter (and any to follow) is a mix of research and my own fanciful fabrications :)

* * *

Jane dug her fingers into the muddy shore as she fought the drag of the river behind her. Gritting her teeth, she gave a series of forceful kicks before she finally managed to claw her way forward onto her elbows, then up to her knees. Loki surfaced behind her, allowing the current to sweep him toward the bank as Jane watched him over her shoulder.

"The physics of this is ridiculous!" she yelled above the roar of water. "Here's land at a perpendicular angle inside a vertical tree trunk! How are we not falling back down by gravity or floating around without it? I mean, if it were—"

"It's magic, Jane," Loki sputtered as he crawled up onto shore beside her. "It's all magic, and there's no explanation for it."

"I doubt that."

"Do you honestly believe that there's a precise calculation for everything?"

"Yeah, I do." Jane inched back toward the water and reached down to wash the grime from her jacket. "Every phenomenon has cause and effect with variables that determine the initial reactants. It's an equation that can be worked out."

Loki slicked back his wet hair, then shifted to adjust his reappearing armor. "What mystery is there in that?"

Jane shrugged. "That's just it. It _solves_ the mystery."

"Rather takes the fun out of it." He threw her a sideways glance. "What kind of world would it be without questions?"

"An enlightened one," Jane replied. "Society moves forward when we find the answers."

"You cannot control what knowledge brings once you obtain it, Jane. Some things should remain unsolved."

Her head shot up in surprise. "So fear of the unknown should keep us from learning?"

Loki's mouth had pressed into a hard, thin line. "I've learned that striving for omniscience brings more pain than it's worth. You should focus more on an experience instead of analyzing it to death."

"_Analyzing it to death_?" Irritation burned Jane's tongue, and she did not attempt in the least to fight it down. He had more than asked for it now. "What do you know about starting research on a subject no one has even considered? Do you think any of this is easy? Do you think I just stare at the stars and wait for my feelings to tell me why they're there? Try telling that to a research foundation board when you're trying to get a grant renewal." Jane rose to her feet and began to pace furiously. "Not all of us can just shoot around space and experience it like you can, so observations and equations are all that we have! They're not scribbles, they're how we map our discoveries!" She spun on her heel to face him, then immediately froze.

Loki's face had lit up in a genuine smile as he watched her from the lower bank. It was a warm expression Jane had never seen. His eyes had lost their sharp edge, and she nearly jumped when she recognized affection in his gaze. Something pulled hard inside her as she began to walk toward him without even knowing why. She tried to step back, but instead felt another tug as if an invisible cord had been pulled taut between them.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she murmured, entranced.

Then it was gone, shut off like a breaker in a storm. Loki swept past her, taking the rest of the of the hill in long strides. "Just a memory. Let's go."

Following him in silence, she sensed their connection weaken before dissolving entirely. It was as if a radio had lost its signal, leaving behind only monotonous static in its wake. But she had clearly seen his expression: it was so uncharacteristic of him, for she had never thought Loki capable of true warmth toward anyone. Then again, she hadn't spent much time with—she shook the thought from her head. A murderer, and she had been drawn to him! She felt a stab of panic: why was she following him at all, even now? Of all the thoughtless things she had promised Thor she wouldn't do in his absence, this one had to trump them all. To run off sightseeing with his criminal brother instead of waiting safely in Asgard? She thought she was brave in taking him up on his offer, but now the danger had begun to seep in at last.

"This is wrong," Jane muttered under her breath. "What the hell am I doing?"

"Falling behind," Loki answered at her shoulder, and Jane stifled a cry of surprise. He pressed a long hand along the small of her back and pushed her until she fell in step with him. "Keep up, or the last of the daylight will be lost."

"What daylight?" she said hoarsely with a quick glance over her shoulder. Yggdrasil's roaring waters had long disappeared from sight. She had waited too late.

Loki did not answer, but pressed on until they reached what appeared to be edge of the hollow trunk. The same bright blue and purple lights streaked before them in racing lines like vibrant strings on an instrument. Jane fought back the urge to reach out and pluck them, unsure if they would sting as they had upon their entrance to the great tree.

The question that broke the silence nearly made her jump. "Do you see that fissure?" Loki asked.

"I can't," Jane began, her hands gesturing aimlessly. "I can't do this."

He glanced at the wall, then back at her. "The passage is not too narrow for you."

"Oh. Well, I actually meant that…" She trailed off as she saw the frustration suddenly flare up in his eyes.

He knew why she truly hesitated and still he asked. "Meant _what_?"

_Get a hold of yourself, Jane_, she thought, her mind racing. _You left a note for Thor, so he'll find you if something goes wrong. Well, he'll probably find you anyway once he realizes you left with just a 'guide.' You might even still be alive by then, but then-_

"Jane." Loki's voice was sharp with irritation.

"Yeah, I'm good," she replied quickly with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She broke away from him and began moving toward the section of wall he had indicated. "Just nerves, but I'm good now. So, um, this is the fissure, right?" The neon lights snapped around the craggy edges like frayed power lines, sending a constant shower of sparks across the entrance.

"Yggdrasil wasn't always like this, was it?" she asked softly, though secretly pleased that she had gotten the name right this time.

Loki was once again at her side, though his habit of crossing distance so quickly and soundlessly was beginning to unsettle her. "I needed a way out, and so I created one."

"How many times have you come this way?"

"I can't remember."

Jane stepped through the hewn gash and felt her boots catch the grip of rough bark. The walls fell away with the darkness, and her vision was suddenly filled with the great branches of Yggdrasil stretching out to the colorful galaxies far away. She paused to consider the branch beneath her feet, at least three feet in diameter by her estimate, before she carefully bent to sit and let her feet dangle off the side. Below, above, and around was the vast expanse of space. Jane gasped as her gaze took each new angle in turn, and was surprised that oxygen continued to find her lungs where no atmosphere should exist. Out beyond her reach the heavens were splashed about like paint on a pallet of deep blue. Looking down, she found the bark of Yggdrasil transparent beneath her hands and she watched as golds and greens joined the other colors that lashed out beneath the surface like fingers of lightning trapped in glass. The huge branches finally narrowed to end in great clusters of silvered leaves that blew about in a windless void. She nearly lost her balance when the tree shifted forward as its boughs lifted and swayed, the shining leaves reflecting the stars that seemed to brush across the crown of the World Tree. Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes, and Jane let out a watery laugh as she fought back the emotion that had suddenly overcome her.

"The tree is ash," Loki remarked behind her, "Though unlike any that carry that name on Midgard."

"I've never seen anything so beautiful," she breathed as she finally managed to compose herself. "How is this even possible?"

"Magic, I suppose."

Jane looked up to see him smiling, though not at her. His eyes were different again, younger, and more boyish as he watched the galaxies whirl about them with an air of old familiarity: his was the look of coming home. Silence stretched between them for a moment or an eternity, Jane did not care; she could look out from this place forever.

"Up," Loki said finally, digging a boot into her thigh. "You are dawdling. Now, follow the path and jump off where it ends."

Jane threw him a incredulous look as she got to her feet, but found her legs obeying long before her brain could reason out his order. The walk was a matter of two dozen strides before the branch dropped off and below—Jane drew in another sharp breath as she leaned forward. A wide, shimmering circle bloomed out from beneath the bough's end, its borders rippling out like a silver shoreline. In its center, as if through flowing glass, appeared rolling fields of green accented by forests of autumn trees. She turned to find Loki following close behind.

"This is the same as the convergence back in London!" she cried excitedly, then paused as she realized he had not been there. "They were in the sky, like tears in the clouds, you should have seen it! The realms, are they all around the World Tree like this? Just portals floating around?"

"Mostly," he replied as he stepped forward. "Now go."

Jane looked over the edge. "I won't be falling thousands of feet, will I?"

"No."

"Do you know where we'll land?"

"No."

"So we could end up-"

With one swift movement, Loki lunged forward and his arm shot out to wrap around her waist as he drew her roughly to his side. One final push against Yggdrasil thrust them forward and down as they dove into the atmosphere of Álfheim.

* * *

Jane opened her eyes to a sea of diamonds.

Water seemed to rush around and over her head as she fought to hold her breath against the shock of impact. She kicked as hard as she could, the glimmering surroundings nearly blinding her as she moved upward. Suddenly, she was jerked back and found herself descending again. Strong roots, she reasoned, must have wrapped themselves around her ankle, but she abandoned this as she realized it was consciously pulling her farther into the depths. As she struggled to free herself, the waves created by her frantic movements sent the silvered water away in bursts of light. Another set of claws immediately latched upon her other leg and swung her to the side as she felt heat rise from below. The need for air began to burn her lungs, but even the adrenaline racing through her limbs was not enough to propel her toward the surface. The water had turned deep red with flashes of gold that swirled around her like bloodied silver before pulsing away in fiery hues.

I did not come here to die, a voice snarled in her mind. Jane reached down and unsheathed Loki's dagger, then began hacking furiously at the thing beneath her feet. The blade struck something solid and she forced it deeper, sawing the sinews like rope as sparks flew out and were extinguished. Her right ankle was released just as she ran out of air, and her lungs breathed the surrounding atmosphere deeply before she could think to stop. She had not meant to drown, but she conceded her body the inevitable now. Liquid rushed into her lungs, then out again as Jane's eyes widened in shock. She sucked in another breath, and then let it out as if the glinting water were air itself. She had not meant to drown, and by some miracle…

Another tug jerked her leg down and she cried out as the fingers burned their grip onto her leg. Grasping her weapon in a tight fist, she swung it down with the hilt angling toward her feet, effectively slicing through the second tendril with greater ease than the first. The coil released her and she kicked away with the last of her frenzied energy. The water lightened and became silver once more and she nearly sighed in relief as she felt the surface within reach.

She did not notice the shadow that hovered to her left.

It shot out and gripped her arm before Jane buried a dagger blade deep into its armored flesh without another thought. It jerked away in a swath of bubbles, leaving the knife in Jane's grip as she finally surfaced to the warm night air.

Her ears were instantly met with the choked yelling of a foreign tongue, and Jane recognized Loki's voice amidst his sputtered curses.

"You wretched woman!" Loki snarled as he splashed clumsily toward her with one arm. "Is this how you repay my offer of aid?"

Still slow from her own weariness, Jane had no time to think before he was on her, fingers clawing the back of her head as his thumbs pressed deep into the hollow of her neck. Her own hands came up in an effort to pry him away, her mouth gaping as she struggled to breathe beneath his grip. She slipped down below the surface and tasted blood, _his_ blood, she realized. The shock of her mistake did not stop her from threatening it again if it meant saving herself. She raised the point of the dagger against his abdomen.

"I didn't know," she gasped, her mouth filling again with the glimmering water. "Let me explain."

Harder pressure from the steel in Jane's hand convinced Loki to release her, leaving her treading water alone as she gulped the air into her lungs.

"I didn't know it was you," she growled, still sputtering. "I had to cut myself free and then—"

"Free from _what_?" Loki's sneering tone was mingled with pain as he fixed her with a black look.

"I don't know, roots? Something grabbed my legs and dragged me down and I couldn't—" She pushed a hand through her tangled hair, flustered. "And then you grabbed me, so I…" A glance at his face galled her into silence, and she turned and began paddling toward the near shoreline. She barely noticed that neither her hair nor her body was wet.

"So you stabbed me."

Jane didn't answer him until she had laid a number of strokes between them. "What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to look!"

"Right, like I was going to stop and see who was trying to get me!" she shouted over her shoulder. A series of uneven splashes behind her was enough evidence of his quick, if not cumbersome, pursuit. A thought flitted through her mind: How badly had she hurt him?

Loki hissed out another curse before leveling a snipe at her. "Is this how you travel? On constant edge until you attack your own companions?"

Jane whirled in the water to face him. "Yeah, if that companion is you."

"You still don't trust me."

"Don't act so surprised."

"You must have had a little faith to come this far with me." His voice coiled about her, low and serpentine.

"I didn't come because of you," Jane retorted with a glare. "I trust _Thor_ to find me. In the meantime, I'll take my chances."

Loki's teeth flashed in the moonlight. "Oh? Would that have been the note you left him in the trunk near his bed?" He was swimming closer, but she was too frozen in shock to retreat. "The little key on the pillow was a nice clue, but then Thor would need something really obvious, wouldn't he?"

"Why did you go-" Jane tried to force down the pulse that had begun to hammer in her throat. "What did you do with it?"

"I burned it, you silly woman. I couldn't have you leaving such damning evidence behind."

Jane felt her stomach begin to twist in sour knots. What a fool she had been, a million times over! There were no witnesses left to tell Thor where she had gone, unless Heimdall had sensed it, maybe even seen it from the heights of the Bifrost. Thor had once told her he could see everything. She tamped down this sudden ray of hope before Loki could notice, and instead resumed her slow swim to shore.

"So I'm a hostage now," she remarked flatly over her shoulder.

"You are nothing of the sort. Hostages are taken against their will, and you came willingly."

"What if I change my mind?"

"Why would you wish to do that?"

Jane did not answer, though the silence between them did.

"Leave when you wish, but know you will never find your way back to Asgard," Loki said, biting each word out. "I will not accompany you."

"You'd kill me first." The words were a realization, not a question.

Loki shrugged, though the gesture made him wince with the pain of his injured arm. "Secrets are dangerous things, Jane, and you happen to hold one of mine."

"I didn't even tell Thor you were alive!"

"You might as well have done so, as he would have discovered the fact once he knew where to look."

"You had no right to destroy it. That was my personal note to him!"

"And this is mine to you—" he reached below the surface and unsheathed the dagger from Jane's belt before tracing its point across her chest. "Cross me again, Jane Foster, and Thor will have your very heart to cherish after I cut it out of you."

Jane's breath came in short gasps long after Loki had reached down to reclaim his weapon and sheath. Almost as if in a dream, she felt herself turn and begin swimming as fast as she could toward shore. Her limbs burned as the distance felt interminable, and relief washed over her when she finally felt the sand shift beneath her fingers and the water withdraw behind her. Pulling herself upon a bank for the second time that day, she collapsed in exhaustion as sleep left her senseless.

* * *

_She left him sleeping, the draw of the woods too potent for her to ignore. The leaves whispered in a windless night, and what could she do but to go see why? She had come to discover secrets and to explore, after all. She breathed deeply, delighting in the pure coolness of the night air. Every aspect of Álfheim seemed infused by light, whether it floated freely on the air or glinted in the abundance of nature about her. She looked to her left and watched breathlessly as the diamond waterfalls refracted moonlight in millions of dazzling facets before crashing into the silver lake._

_She glanced over her shoulder at the figure lying near the fire. He was an intriguing companion, knowledgeable beyond her previous judgments and oh so unpredictable in manner. She wondered how he would react to this small adventure of hers. She clutched her notebook firmly in hand and turned away in a whisper of robes. She would find out if he caught her._

_She easily found the path, and she stared in awe at the glowing shadows that lurked beneath the trees. Was there no true night in this place? She wandered for what seemed like hours, etching the rolling landscape beyond the forest into her memory. Reaching up, she plucked a leaf from a hovering branch and pressed it gingerly in the binding of her book. It glittered, casting a shifting light across the pages like a fireless torch. She wondered at it: was it an element of the plant's makeup or a trick of the moonlight? She made a note of the observation and sketched the leaf's dagger shape on the same page, but was interrupted by the crack of a twig. She cursed herself silently for taking so long—how much further could she have gotten before he found her?_

_"Loki?"_

_Her voice sounded small in the wide expanse of woods. She stiffened as footsteps began to crash through the nearby bushes. A tall figure flitted in and out of the light playing in the shade, and she recoiled even as she tried to place his face. _

_"Who goes there?" A deep, rich voice rumbled toward her as a man approached behind it._

_"I might ask you the same."_

_The man stepped fully onto the path before her, great and shining even in the shadows. "I will suffer your question, my lady, if you would accompany me to my hall."_

_Curiosity prickled within her. Was he a light elf, one of the inhabitants of this realm? Or even if he wasn't, what else could he show her?_

_"Agreed."_

* * *

The sunlight played across her closed eyelids, prodding Jane awake. She stretched and felt the smooth sheets shift beneath her as she sighed at the familiar comfort. The dream of Yggdrasil, of nearly drowning in Álfheim, of exploring the woods had all seemed so real, and yet she seemed to have never left Thor's bed.

She froze as her fingers brushed against a fur throw. Her eyes shot open as she scrambled back against the pillows, her silk gown rustling with the movement. A quick glance about the sunny chamber revealed a palace very different than the one in Asgard. The walls of the room seemed fluted with the twisting trunks of trees as skeins of silver raced upward toward the glassy ceiling that rippled above her. Jane watched entranced as the colors of dawn were distorted across the force field-like dome, and she vaguely wondered what source of energy could be stabilized into such a shape. She felt torn between her wonder at the structure and the burning question as to how she was in nightgown, of all things.

"Good morning, my lady."

Jane yelped in surprise at the unfamiliar, booming voice. Before her stood a tall, ruddy man gilt in pewter and steeled armor, though considerably less than Thor usually wore. A light gray cape was draped across his shoulders and spilled in a diagonal angle across his chest. His face was radiant with a full red beard framing a becoming face and a ready smile. Jane's panic was slightly quelled by the apparent friendliness of her visitor.

"G-good morning," she stammered. "And you would be…?"

"Frey," he frowned, his eyes squinting as if he were trying to understand if she were joking. "I told you of myself last night, Lady Sigyn."

Jane's stomach dropped. "What did you call me?"

"The name you gave yourself upon our meeting."

"When did _that_ happen?" Jane felt the panic rising in her chest, racing hot then chilling in her veins. She had no memory of—wait. That dream. It seemed so foreign, as if she had experienced it through another's eyes, but it could be the only explanation for all—she threw another glance around the room—for all of this. "Was I really wandering around the woods last night?"

"Yes, and you brought this book with you." He placed her black leather notebook on the bed beside her. "You seemed lost, so I offered you my hospitality. At the price of my name, of course."

"Oh God, I was sleepwalking."

Frey's stance shifted as he folded his arms across his chest. "Then you must have walked from the depths of Hel itself, for Lady Sigyn perished long ago."

"I don't know why I said that," Jane laughed nervously. "I must have picked it up in…in Asgard. I guess dreams are weird like that."

"And what is your true name?"

"Jane Foster."

"You are Thor's lady," said Frey, his hazel eyes gleaming as he looked her over. "He often spoke of you. And what would a Midgardian be doing so far from home?"

"Uh, just exploring, really." Jane was heartened by the god's warm smile, and felt her shyness slowly slip away. "You know, Midgard is so dull compared to Álfheim and the other realms, I just needed to get out and see more."

"Is Thor with you?"

"No, I have a…guide from Asgard. I think I lost him last night."

Frey laughed. "And lose you, he did! How he could take his eyes from such a lovely mortal, I cannot imagine. You may stay here until I can find him for you."

Jane's heart leapt to her throat. "Oh, you don't have to do that! I think I could find my way back."

Her host shook his head. "You are injured, my lady."

"Oh, that." Jane winced as she reached down to touch the bandages on her ankles. "It was nothing, really. Probably just scraped it against something when I was swimming."

"Those are burns."

Jane gave a flustered sigh. "There was some kind of flame in the water. It felt like claws of fire that dragged me under. I have no idea what it was."

Frey's face seemed to darken in confusion. "Nothing lives in that lake. And it is not water, but pooled starlight."

"You're saying that I was swimming in light…in _liquid _form?"

"I am."

Jane gave him a quizzical look. "But it isn't possible! The very nature of light is intangible because it's an electromagnetic wave of mass-less photons! Well, unless you want to give them relative mass according to their change in velocity, but that's not true mass, and certainly never enough to take on the density of water!"

"I did not realize that you had made such a study of it."

But Jane wasn't listening. "The refracting I get. When the moonlight hit the water…no, you said it was starlight. But then that would mean that light was refracting against itself, when the kind I saw was one that met a surface with a different density. But perhaps if-"

Frey let out a throaty laugh. "It is good to hear another woman who has a knowledge of the sciences. Now, it would be better if you were dressed and joined me at table. You must be famished from your work."

"Sorry, but I think I need to see that lake again."

Frey's red locks bounced as he shook his head, amused. "We will discuss it more in due time, Lady Jane. I believe you will find clothing to your liking in the wardrobe."

* * *

Jane swallowed another slice of sweet fruit before staring down at her plate. "Who was she?"

Frey lifted an eyebrow as he lowered the cup from his lips. "She?"

"Sigyn, who was she really?"

Her host leaned back, stroking his beard. "I thought you would have known, for you claimed to be her."

"I was dreaming." Jane shook her head, her brow furrowing. "I keep dreaming about her, and I don't even know who she is."

"She was the betrothed of Loki of Asgard before she perished in fire centuries ago."

Jane shifted uncomfortably. "Did he…kill her?"

"Gods, no!" Frey looked at her incredulously. "It was an unfortunate accident, and one of her own making."

"What was she like?"

Frey considered before taking another draught of mead. "What have your dreams been like?"

"It seems she used the observatory to map the stars, but always wanted to see more. That's all I can remember. It's obvious that I'm just putting myself into my own dreams."

"She was very much like what you described."

"You knew her?"

"I have visited our sister realm many times, especially in council. It was an inevitable meeting."

"And you are—" Jane pointed her fork at him, moving it in circles. "—god of what, exactly?"

"Those on Midgard have given me the realms of earth, sky, and," he grinned, "Fertility."

"Oh, that's really…great." Jane's fork clattered against her plate. "I really shouldn't wear out my welcome."

Frey nodded, still bemused. "You wish to see the Falls again before you return to your guide?"

Jane's eyes lit up. "Do you have a boat?"

"Yes, I have something of the sort."

Physics must not apply to gods, Jane mused as she watched Frey an hour later. From his pocket he had pulled an object no bigger than his hand before tossing it into the lake before them. It had immediately unfolded a thousand times as a great ship constructed itself before her very eyes. The golden planks creaked as they locked together in the shape of a long boat, and Jane looked up to watch as large green sails unfurled above them. It was unlike any ship she had ever seen as it seemed to breathe the very wind that rumbled through its sails in anticipation of a long journey.

Jane couldn't contain her frustration any longer. "How in the world did you do that?"

Frey let out a deep laugh. "You may ask how the dwarves may have done it, for it was fashioned by them."

"I thought this was the realm of the light elves."

Frey shrugged. "They are elusive, even to me, though my halls have been here for ages. They prefer the sanctuary of the woods, and are not keen for conversation or smithing."

"Oh." Jane was staring at the serpentine head that emerged at the bow of the ship. "Does your boat also come with a foldable dock?" she asked with the hint of a smile.

"I'm afraid the dwarves neglected to make me one," said Frey with mock regret. "I must violently protest the next time I am in Nidavellir."

"Well, I guess-" Jane's words were lost to the whirlwind that swept her aboard the magnificent ship. "Okay, and how did you just do _that_?"

"You ask too many questions, Jane."

"Yeah, that seems to be the general consensus."

Frey smiled. "Welcome aboard _Skidbladnir_, the greatest of the worlds' ships, capable of taking its carrier anywhere with a favorable wind."

"Wow, um. We can just keep it to a quick trip, if that's okay."

Jane was excited to see the Falls above the surface without the fear that had paralyzed her the previous evening. She briefly wondered if Loki was looking for her, then quickly threw the thought away. Considering her recent habit of spending time with immortals she didn't know, Frey was by far better company. There was something kind, even charming about his demeanor that invited her trust, though she had no reason to give it. Thor would surely avenge any injury done to her, and everyone around her knew it. Reckless Jane, she admonished herself, counting on the threat of Thor to keep her safe.

Jane found the Night Falls to be just as dazzling during the day, the crystalline waves reflecting the light of Álfheim's second sun like pieces of an immense, shattered mirror. Turning away from the curving bow, she walked back toward Frey, who lay lazily near the side of the boat as he watched her.

"And what is your theory, my lady?"

Jane leaned her back against the thick mast. "That light has no liquid form. More of a fact, really."

"But can light be trapped in a space?"

"It can." Jane pursed her lips, thinking. "So you're saying that starlight has been trapped in the area of this lake?"

"Yes."

"What's keeping it from leaving?"

"The opposite light of Álfheim's suns and moon. It is a heavier light, if you will."

Jane stared at him. "So you're saying that your light has mass that can exert not only energy, but a _gravitational_ force?"

"It is something of a wavelength you have never seen."

She chuckled. "Are you using scientific terms now?"

"I'm learning."

"All right, Mr. Science. What makes the light have a liquid consistency?"

Frey smiled. "The trapped starlight is always fighting itself, which causes an excess of unspent energies that vary in size. Wavelength begets wavelength, much like ocean waves crash against one another, until you are left with pure energy that has no outlet."

Jane was stunned at his grasp of the material, but recovered quickly. "And how does that make it tangible?"

"It doesn't. What you felt while submerged in the lake was not liquid, but the movement of gravity."

"Wow," laughed Jane, pressing a hand to her temples. "That could eventually make sense. Just give me a few hundred years and let me get back to you."

"Your science has yet to discover that it is not the same in all reaches of the universe."

"Sounds pretty unbelievable, but I'm always willing to look into a new theory." Jane flashed him a smile before she turned to lean her elbows on the side of the ship. She stared down longingly at the waves below her. "What I wouldn't give to take some of this lake back with me," she murmured.

Frey rose to his feet behind her. "It is nearly dusk. I believe it would be best if you were to return to your camp, as your companion will be wondering where you went."

During the trip back to shore, Jane furiously sketched the details of the roaring Falls behind them before jotting down every word she could remember of Frey's explanation. The possibilities and impossibilities warred endlessly inside her head, and she was glad when at last she felt Skidbladnir grind into the sandy bank.

"Might I have the pleasure of your company again?" Frey asked as he conjured a second whirlwind to land her gently on shore. "For the purpose of further scientific discussions?"

"I enjoyed the afternoon, thank you," Jane smiled back up at him. "It seems like science is a common interest for all of you."

"It is an endless frontier for us, and there is still so much to learn."

"You've got that right." Jane scrambled up the bank until she felt her boots strike solid soil. She turned back, calling out, "And yeah, if I'm ever in the neighborhood —" she stopped as she briefly glanced around for the ship, but Frey was gone.

He had dropped her off very near to where she remembered crawling ashore the previous night. She had not realized how tired she was, and wondered how much sleep she had really gotten since then. She was in no mood to battle Loki as to her whereabouts, and was pleasantly surprised when she found him absent from the camp he had apparently built last evening. The embers of the fire had long died out, but she recognized their pack of supplies propped against a rocky outcropping, and her…Jane stared. Her clothes? _Please tell me I wasn't wandering around the woods in just a blanket._ She and Loki had clearly slept on opposite sides of the fire, but Jane was too exhausted to figure out which wool spread had been hers. Snatching up her pile of clothes, she made a makeshift pillow of them and stretched out across the blanket.

She was woken sometime later by the brush of cool glass against her palm. Her eyes flitted open and she saw that a vial had been gently placed in her hand. She squinted at its radiance and her heart leapt as she realized it held the lakelight she had coveted aboard the ship. There was a creak of leather and Jane shifted her focus just in time to see Loki step away from her elbow and disappear into the woods.


End file.
